The Phantom Man

XXIX - Supernatural

Verena shouted in desperation:

"It's Petrus... Laigner's brother."

The boy was floating inside the well. He had gotten pale already, and his head was swaying up and down on the water level. Philip acted immediately: With a strong pull, he took a vine from a nearby tree. He let the natural rope fall into the well until it reached the bottom. Then, the young man climbed down until he got to the little one. He jumped into the water, grabbed the boy's body and put it on his shoulder to take him up. When he reached the edge, Verena helped him bring the boy out. Then, out of the blue, something happened: Philip heard shouts crying for help and a child's weep.

"Please, help me! I am down here at the bottom..." The voice claimed.

He looked from one side to the other, trying to locate the girl that had led him there, but she had disappeared without a trace. He just heard the long weep coming from the bottom of the well. Philip put the boy on the ground and listened to his breathing, which was very thin. His body was cold already. Philip took off his own blouse to cover the boy.

"Wake up, Petrus! C'mon... Wake up..." Philip said.

Verena watched everything with full attention.

"Do you want me to find someone to help?"

"Wait! I think he's recovering his breath."

The young man shook the boy's face trying to wake him up. The boy began to cough and threw up some water. His body heat began to rise.

The voice kept on calling for Philip, insistently asking him to go back to the well. Sadly, he had already recognized whose voice was that. Even though he knew that there was nobody else on the bottom, he decided to return and check it out.

"Look after him, Verena! I must get back to the well... I have to make sure there's no else left there."

"But I didn't see anyone," the lady said, in disbelief.

"Sweetheart, I have to check it out. Please, wait..."

The young man grabbed the vine and began to climb down the well again while Verena took care of the boy, who was opening the eyes.

"What happened?" Petrus asked, still dazed.

"Thank God!" She sighed in relief. "You were in the well's bottom. For an instant I was afraid you wouldn't survive."

"What about Laigner? Where is her?"

"We haven't found her yet. We're searching... Do you remember what happened?"

"I can't remember anything."

Verena noticed that his face was dirty and his head was injured. She concluded that maybe he had fallen and hit his head. That could be the reason why he had lost his memory.

The young woman took Petrus to the small abandoned house near the river and left him there safe and warm.

"Get some rest, little one. I'll get back soon," she said before she returned to help her boyfriend.

"Philip!" She called on the well's edge.

"Verena, are you there? Take the vine, I think there's someone else in here," Philip said as he saw a hand emerging on the water's surface.

"But who could it be?" The lady thought.

He grabbed the cold hand and a body surfaced, waiting to be rescued.

It was as the prince feared.

Philip came up to the well's edge with a sad expression in his eyes. On his shoulder, he carried Laigner's lifeless body. He laid her on the ground, but there was nothing he could do to save her. Her spirit was gone.